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LA Times reports Utah’s attorney general asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to restore a state law banning same-sex marriages by issuing an emergency stay of a lower court’s ruling that held gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry.

For the high court, which has not been asked to rule on the topic since issuing two landmark rulings in June, Utah’s request could trigger a closely watched decision with nationwide implications on the future of gay marriage in the U.S.

In considering Utah’s request, justices are in effect being asked to make a quick assessment of whether gays and lesbians should have an equal right to marry under the Constitution, a question they carefully dodged in June.

In a 5-4 ruling last year, the court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and ruled that legally married same-sex couples are entitled to equal benefits under the law. But in a second 5-4 ruling, they relied on procedural grounds to throw out an appeal involving California’s Proposition 8, a decision that had the legal effect of invalidating California’s ban on same-sex marriage without establishing a new constitutional right for gays and lesbians nationwide.

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Bloomberg reports Toni Fox plans to open the doors of her Denver marijuana shop at 8 a.m. tomorrow to a line of customers including some who camped overnight to be the first in the U.S. to legally buy pot for recreational use.


Fox has arranged for canopy tents, heaters and a food truck to offer donuts and pastries to patrons waiting for the state-appointed hour. She expects sales at her 3D Cannabis Center, operating since 2010 as a medical-marijuana dispensary near the Denver Coliseum, to surge to at least $250,000 a month from $30,000, she said.

“We’ll have people out the door,” Fox, 42, a Salida resident, said by telephone. “It’s going to be a very festive atmosphere. We all feel like we’re walking on sunshine right now.”

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AP reports Bill de Blasio was to be sworn in as the 109th mayor of New York City on Wednesday, becoming the first Democrat to occupy City Hall in more than two decades while vowing to pursue a sweeping liberal agenda for the nation's largest city.

The new mayor was elected two months ago by a record margin on the promise of being a sharp break from Michael Bloomberg, who leaves office after 12 years that reshaped New York, making it one of the nation's safest and most prosperous big cities but also one that has become increasingly stratified between the very rich and the working class.

De Blasio was to take the oath of office moments after midnight at his modest Park Slope, Brooklyn home. His inauguration will be celebrated on a far grander scale at noon Wednesday on the steps of City Hall when he takes the oath again, which will be administered by former President Bill Clinton.

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• chemtrails
• mystery illness
• POLICE STATE
• FEMA CAMPS
• ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
• GUN CONFISCATION
• California goes into the Pacific Ocean
• Currency RESET 
• 240 MILLION people to be killed

• False Flag
• War
• Economic Armageddon

...developing...

NY DailyNews reports a juvenile was taken into custody for the senseless Christmas day killing of two teens in Newark, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The unidentified suspect was expected to be charged with shooting 13-year-old Zainee Hailey — who was cut down in a hail of bullets while taking out the trash, officials said.

A 14-year-old boy was critically wounded in the shooting.

The Essex County Prosecutor was expected to give more information about the case during a press conference at 3 p.m., a spokeswoman told the Daily News.

News of the arrest came as friends and family gathered in Elizabeth for the funeral of Hailey — who was caught in the crossfire while taking the trash out with her 7-year-old 

brother.

Predictions for 2014 = 2013²
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
*************

Pundits, so I am told, on or about, December 31st, are expected to make predictions for the coming year. 

Normally, I don't do this, preferring to make all sort of wild predictions throughout the year, most of which turn out to totally wrong.  The good thing about being a pundit is the reader's very bad and extremely short memory!  It has saved my derriere any number of times.

Howsoever, never let it be said I did not do my part to muddy the future waters of the new year 2014.

So -- here goes:

If you liked 2013 you're gonna LOVE 2014!

This IS an election year. (I'm so old I can remember when we actually had some space between elections!  These days the pols just campaign non-stop!)  We have the Democrats, the Republicans, and the Conservatives (Yeah, I deliberately carved conservatives out of the GOP.  Wishful thinking on my part.  See, I'd like to see conservatives with their own political party.  As I said -- wishful thinking.) all vying for leadership positions that, for the most part, NONE of them is equipped to handle.

In 2014, I see the Obama Administration doing a pretty good imitation of the Hindenburg,  (Oh!  The humanity ... ! Remember?  OK, so Google it!) as it continues to crash and burn.  Ratlines are already being established for "antsy" members of the administration ready to beat a hasty retreat out of Foggy Bottom and lose themselves amongst the proletariat, at least for a few years -- til the furor blows over.

Obamacare has turned out to be the suicide pact for the democrats we warned it would be.   The pay-off for those of us who fought Obamacare tooth and nail will come in November with the pending purge of the Congress of the current brood of vipers now in residence, hopefully ending the polymorphous perversity of that particular band of brigands.  I hope!

Obama will tell more lies. (I don't think that needs any elucidation... do you?)

US troops will continue to leave Afghanistan leaving only a token force to secure Mr. Karzai's head in it's current position atop his shoulders.  However, the Taliban has laid claim to the other end of his anatomy and may yet collect their prize!

There will be no peace between the Israeli's and the so-called Palestinians. (Actually, I cheated on this one.  I read the Bible.)

Iran will continue to manufacture the ingredients for a nuclear bomb, some call the Islam Bomb.  They will continue to smile -- and lie through their teeth -- and string Obama along like the simpleton they believe him to-be.

Resistance to Syria's  Assad will slowly diminish as Assad runs out of fellow Syrians to kill.

The US will become entangled in a militaristic adventure in Africa, which we will not win.  It would be politically incorrect for America to win a war with a black opponent.
Back here at the asylum, er, at home, Obama will pull out all the stops to get amnesty through Congress and into law to grab as many Latino voters as possible in an effort to save the collective rear ends of his Democratic Party cohorts and set the stage for Hillary's run for the Presidency in 2016.

Hillary will deny she's running, of course.  But then: "What difference does it make now" (Sorry 'bout that ... couldn't resist.)

America's paternalistic elite ruling class will continue to lead the nation into a virtual police state form of society and government.  The constitution will be proclaimed null and void.

The Marxocrats in the West Wing will continue their endeavor to fundamentally transform America into that socialist/communist dung heap we have warned of for so long, while those of us in the conservative commentariat continue to call them on it at every opportunity.

Congress will vote to give California to China as partial payment of all the loans we owe them.  Expect China to refuse -- unless we agree to keep Governor "Moonbeam." 

I could go one, but, frankly, it's too depressing. 

It is already shaping up to be another lousy year in the land of the formerly free.

Happy New Year!

J. D. Longstreet

1. Climb more stairs.
2. Eat more food.

Hey, I'm just trying to be realistic! If I really go all out on #1 then #2 is going to happen anyway. ;)

2013 was a rough year for me. For two straight years I stuck to the plan. I climbed a minimum of 20 extra flights of stairs each and every day. Our cat died in the spring of 2013 and some weight started going back on. Like many, I eat more when I'm feeling down. I stuck to the plan just the same though.

In July of 2013, I seriously sprained my ankle. It happened at a rest stop 250 miles from home. I drove the rest of the way and then went straight to the emergency room. Based on its current condition and the swelling, they gave me the talk about how fractures aren't so bad. Fortunately, it wasn't fractured. It was an extremely bad sprain though. It prevented me from doing any climbing at all for months (unless one counts hobbling around the house on crutches), which completely took out the entire summer's hiking season. The lack of activity also put a nail in my weight loss coffin. Needless to say, I was feeling down. Sigh.

Speaking of injuries, our dog Honey has been through many surgeries in the past year or so (to the tune of $12,000+ in various vet bills, liver surgery being the biggest). Her most recent surgery was to have several teeth removed. That was just a few weeks ago. They broke while she was playing with her soft toys. Yeah, soft. Even the vet can't understand how she did that. She said her teeth were really strong and hard to extract, what was left of them anyway. It's a mystery within a conundrum. She's doing excellent right now though and if asked, she'd definitely say the medical attention was worth it. They believe she can live out her normal lifespan.

So anyway, hopefully much of that bad news is now behind me. I've got some pent-up climbing demand and I intend to put it to work. I've been planning to make 2014 a banner year. Midlife crisis? I don't think it is but I would not swear to it in court, lol. I was a bit discouraged recently because my ankle still isn't back to 100% (nearly 6 months later). I slowed down my pace considerably in recent weeks and my ankle is doing pretty well in response. Surprisingly, my legs are holding up great. I did several marathon sessions recently as a test. The forced rest has not hampered my leg strength to a noticeable degree.



The past few months were spent climbing enough to reset the time on the stair climber to a nice starting point in preparation for 2014 (much of it at 50 feet per minute in 5 minute sprints). That's 0 months, 18 days, 0 hours, and 0 minutes of climbing since I purchased it roughly 14 years ago (minus a trivial amount of time that was on it when I bought it new).

I'm going to climb at a consistent 25 feet per minute in 2014. It's a leisurely pace that I can maintain fairly indefinitely. I would have set the pace higher if not for my ankle, but it will be plenty sufficient for what I intend to do. It's definitely enough to make me sweat, especially at the one hour mark (700+ calories per hour at my present weight).

50 miles of vertical is my minimum goal. It will take me 10,560 minutes. That's exactly 7 days and 8 hours of exercise. I'll need to average roughly 30 minutes per day (slightly more than that to cover when I'm potentially sick or out of town of course).


Or bust! That's the minimum time I wish to see a year from now. You won't be getting any updates between now and December 31, 2014. No record keeping this time. I'm letting the climber do the work. I promise to make every effort to post its time on that day (the exception being anything outside of my control), and that should be reason enough to keep me motivated. I like games and this is definitely a game now. This game starts at midnight! This is in addition to any hiking/climbing I do in the real world next summer (and I plan to do plenty).

As a side note, I would not consider doing this had I not turned climbing 20 flights of stairs each and every day into a nearly permanent habit (ankle injury notwithstanding) several years ago. Baby steps for the win.

It is also my intent to make climbing 20 flights of stairs each and every day a permanent habit again. Seems odd to use the "again" word, but it is the best I can do. Would you believe that I actually asked the nurse in the emergency room if I could simply scoot up the stairs on my butt 20 times per day just to keep the habit going? She told me no! The ankle needs to remain elevated and get rest! Seriously. (I'm fairly sure she thought I was nuts for asking. I just really didn't want to end the streak! Hahaha!)

And lastly, Happy New Year!! May prosperity flow like warm slop to pigs on a cold frosty morning! Bliss! Or something like that anyway. Feel free to come up with a better analogy. ;)

I heard on CNBC that the DJIA had its best year since 1995. It was theorized that perhaps the market would continue to behave like the late 1990s.

The following scatter chart shows the 10-year treasury yield vs. the DJIA in 1995.


Click to enlarge.

As interest rates fell consistently, the stock market rose consistently.

Let's do the same chart for 2013.


Click to enlarge.

As interest rates rose chaotically, the stock market rose consistently.

Other than the added chaos and inverted interest rate trend, the two charts are nearly identical! You just need to be wearing rose colored glasses so that you cannot see my commentary in red easily. It also helps to look at one of the two charts using a rear view mirror. That way the image will reverse and the trends will therefore look much more similar. It's a small price to pay for optimism!

If 1996 through 1999 is any indication (using red smoke and mirrors), I think we can expect great things from 2014 through 2017. Yes!

Too much sarcasm? Seems fairly heavy this time.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart (1995)
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart (2013)